Announcements

CFP Deadline for AALS Indian Nations Section Papers

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

CALL FOR PAPERS

Tribal Nation Economics and Legal Infrastructure

This call for papers seeks submissions for the AALS Indian Nations and Indigenous Peoples Section’s 2010 publication of selected papers.  The Section will meet during the American Association of Law School’s Annual Conference on January 8th, 2010.  The Indian Nations and Indigenous Peoples Section Meeting will focus on “Tribal Nation Economics and Legal Infrastructure.”  The Washburn Law Journal will be publishing the papers on this topic accepted for publication.

The papers should address the themes of Tribal Nation economics and law.  Law and economics are intertwined fields.  As Tribal Nations rebuild economies in the wake of failed federal policies, legal infrastructure promoting a climate of healthy economics has become vitally important.  Subject areas for papers include topics on contemporary reservation economies, successful practices in tribal commercial law, assessing federal economic incentives for Tribes, legal code development to facilitate economic opportunities, evaluation of the tribal corporate model, creative thinking regarding tribal economic development in the era of federal Indian self-determination, review of sustainable tribal economic strategies, and related topics along these lines.

Abstracts for the papers should be sent by Friday, October 2nd, 2009 to Angelique EagleWoman at (eaglewoman@uidaho.edu).  Abstracts should be no longer than two pages.  Abstracts will be reviewed when received by the deadline and chosen authors notified in a timely manner.  Completed papers will be due by Monday, March 1st, 2010.

**Papers selected will result in publication in the Washburn Law Journal.  Authors are not required to attend the AALS Conference.  The Speakers for this year’s Symposium panel at the AALS Conference are: Professor Robert J. Miller; Professor Judith Royster; and Legislative Director/Tribal Attorney Helaman Hancock.

Michigan Indian Day is TOMORROW!

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Registration materials are here.

Here is the agenda:

Morning keynote:

9:15-10:30 AM — Historical Context of Boarding School Experiences & the Reverberation to Subsequent Generations

—Suzanne Cross, PhD

10:45 AM-Noon — S-1 — Intra & Inter Generational Effects of Boarding School Experiences: From the Voices of Native Women

—Le Anne Silvey, PhD, MSW

10:45 AM-Noon — S-2 — Intergenerational Trauma: Recognizing & Treating Grief & Loss in American Indian/First Nations College Students

—J. Tawa Sina, PhD

10:45 AM-Noon — S-3 — Boarding Schools & Scholarship: Considerations in Research

—James M. McClurken & Veronica Pasfield

10:45 AM-Noon — S-4 — Traditional Approaches to Prevention of Stress, Diabetes & Heart Disease

—Reddog Sina, DO, PhD

1:30-2:45 PM — S-7 — Healing the Hidden Scars: Coping with the After Effects of Historical Abuse

—Susan M. Montroy, MSW/LMSW

1:30-2:45 PM — S-8 — The Role of Language in the Revitalization of Identity Formation

—Helen Roy, Adam Haviland, and Autumn Ellie Mitchell

1:30-2:45 PM — S-9 — Substance Abuse Prevention & Treatment

—Cheryl Samuels, PhD

1:30-2:45 PM — S-10 — Elders’ Discussant Session: Historical Trauma, Boarding School Food Socialization, Intergeneration Eating Habits & Health

—Heather Howard, PhD

Afternoon keynote:

3:00-4:15 PM — Healing the Wounds: Historical Trauma & Urban Health Disparities

—Jerilyn Church and Josette French, MD

Michigan State Bar Indian Law Section Agenda — Thursday, Sept. 17

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

1:00 Business Meeting
1:40 Presentation of Tecumseh Peacekeeping Award to John Wernet

2:00 Program – Implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act in Michigan
Presenters:
Maribeth Preston – SCAO, ICWA resource guide
Matthew Fletcher – Case updates
Angela Sherigan – Benefits of transfers to Tribal Court

FBA Annual Meeting Agenda — Indian Law Highlights

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the agenda for the FBA’s Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City (website). Indian Law is prominently featured:

Thursday, Sept. 10

9:30–10:30 a.m. Session 1A: Criminal Jurisdiction in Indian Country
Speakers: LAWRENCE BACA; ROBERT DON GIFFORD; ARVO MIKKANEN

10:45–11:45 a.m. Session 2A: The Cherokee Freedmen
Speakers: HON. VICKI MILES-LAGRANGE, Moderator; CHARLES J. OGLETREE JR.; PRINCIPAL CHIEF CHADWICK “CORNTASSEL” SMITH

1:45–2:45 p.m.Session 3A: Issues and Ethics for Lawyers Working with Corporate and Tribal General Counsel
Speakers: SUSANNA M. GATTONI, Moderator; PAIGE S. BASS; MATTHEW L.M. FLETCHER; DEANNA HARTLEY-KELSO; HENRY J. HOOD; KERI C. PRINCE; LYNDON C. TAYLOR; GLORIA VALENCIA-WEBER

3:00–4:00 p.m. Session 4A: Issues and Ethics for Lawyers Working with Corporate and Tribal General Counsel (Continued) (see speakers above)

4:15–5:15 p.m.Session 5A: Delivery of Veterans Services in Indian Country
Speakers: JENNIFER WEDDLE, Moderator; PAUL HUTTER; DOUG ROSINSKI; CAROL WILD SCOTT

Friday, Sept. 11

9:45–10:45 a.m.Session 6A: The Roberts Court on Indian Law
Speakers: MATTHEW L.M. FLETCHER (paper here); JOHN DOSSETT; HON. D. MICHAEL McBRIDE III

Please be advised that the Federal Bar Association selected Walter Echo-Hawk for this award, one of its highest honors.  The FBA will honor him on the evening of Sept. 12, 2009 in Oklahoma City at the installation banquet.  Lawrence Baca will assume the Presidency of the FBA at this dinner as well.


USDA Discrimination against Native Farmers Press Release

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Native American Leaders Call on the Obama Administration to End Decades of USDA Discrimination Against Native American Farmers &  Ranchers

Native American leaders and lawyers representing thousands of Native American farmers and ranchers in a 10-year-old nationwide class action lawsuit (Keepseagle v. Vilsack) against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will urge President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack to make long-overdue changes to the USDA’s discriminatory lending practices and call upon the new Administration to settle the Keepseagle case.

After a panel discussion and a press availability that are open to the media from 1:30 to 3:30 pm, hundreds of Keepseagle class members will meet with their attorneys, Joseph Sellers and Sarah Vogel at the Bismarck Civic Center.  These events will take place in conjunction with the 40th Annual United Tribes International Powwow and the United Tribes Tribal Leaders Summit, which thousands of Native Americans will attend.

A new expert report will be released that finds since 1981 Native American farmers and ranchers received only half the loans they were qualified to receive, when compared to other farmers.  This disparity confirms the accounts of thousands of Native Americans who have been the subject of a longstanding pattern of discrimination by USDA, which denied them $3 billion in credit, resulting in nearly $1 billion in damages.

Continue reading →

Frank Pommersheim’s New Book “Broken Landscapes” is Out Now!

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Just received this in the mail. Here is the website for the book from Oxford.

bookshot

Broken Landscape

Indians, Indian Tribes, and the Constitution
Frank Pommersheim

Description

Broken Landscape is a sweeping chronicle of Indian tribal sovereignty under the United States Constitution and the way that legal analysis and practice have interpreted and misinterpreted tribal sovereignty since the nation’s founding. The Constitution formalized the relationship between Indian tribes and the United States government–a relationship forged through a long history of war and land usurpation–within a federal structure not mirrored in the traditions of tribal governance. Although the Constitution recognized the sovereignty of Indian nations, it did not safeguard tribes against the tides of national expansion and exploitation

As Broken Landscape demonstrates, the federal government has repeatedly failed to respect the Constitution’s recognition of tribal sovereignty. Instead, it has favored excessive, unaccountable authority in its dealings with tribes. The Supreme Court has strayed from its Constitutional roots as well, consistently issuing decisions over two centuries that have bolstered federal power over the tribes.

Frank Pommersheim, one of America’s leading scholars in Indian tribal law, offers a novel and deeply researched synthesis of this legal history from colonial times to the present, confronting the failures of constitutional analysis in contemporary Indian law jurisprudence. Closing with a proposal for a Constitutional amendment that would reaffirm tribal sovereignty, Pommersheim challenges us to finally accord Indian tribes and Indian people the respect and dignity that are their due.


Frank Pommersheim teaches at the University of South Dakota School of Law, where he specializes in Indian law. Prior to joining the faculty in 1984, he lived and worked on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation for ten years. He has served on a number of tribal appellate courts throughout Indian country and currently serves as Chief Justice for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court of Appeals and the Rosebud Sioux Supreme Court. He is the author of Braid of Feathers: American Indian Law and Contemporary Life and East of the River: Poems Ancient and New .

William Mitchell Law Review Call for Papers

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Call for Papers – Indian Law

William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 36, Issue II (Fall 2009)

The William Mitchell Law Review is proud to dedicate its second issue to Indian Law in its upcoming Volume 36 (fall 2009). We are currently seeking papers that examine current issues and recent developments in this important area of law. Submissions may either take the form of shorter commentaries or longer law review articles.

The William Mitchell Law Review is highly regarded both regionally and nationally. Our Law Review recently ranked twenty-second in citations by judges and ranked fifty-seventh in citations by other law journals, culminating in an overall ranking of seventieth. Over the years, the William Mitchell Law Review has featured the works of various scholars and practitioners such as Congressman Tim Penny, and former Vice President Walter Mondale. The William Mitchell Law Review has also published nationally known legal experts ranging from Philip Bruner, to Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Byron White, and Harry Blackmun. Now, we would like to invite you to join us to publish in our upcoming volume.

Please direct inquiries to Executive Editor Vanessa Denis at vanessa.denis@wmitchell.edu.

Please send submissions to lreview@wmitchell.edu or mail them to our Editorial Office.

Please note that the Law Review prefers electronic submissions.

William Mitchell Law Review
William Mitchell College of Law
875 Summit Avenue, Suite 159
St. Paul, Minnesota 55105

FBA D.C. Indian Law Conference Nov. 13, 2009

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The Indian Law Section of the Federal Bar Association, the National Native American Bar Association, and the Native American Bar Association of Washington, D.C., invite you to

Save the Date

for the 11th Annual
Washington, D.C. Indian Law Conference

November 13, 2009
at the National Museum of the American Indian
www.nmai.si.edu

More details to follow in Fall 2009.

CFP: Centering Anishinaabeg Studies Book

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Call For Papers:

Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories

Editors: Jill Doerfler, Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark, Niigonwedom James Sinclair

Describing how to understand Anishinaabeg cosmology and epistemology in his 1976 book Ojibway Heritage, Basil Johnston writes that “it is in story, fable, legend, and myth that fundamental understandings, insights, and attitudes toward life and human conduct, character, and quality in their diverse forms are embodied and passed on” (7).  As scholar Gerald Vizenor remarks in a 1992 interview with Laura Coltelli: “You can’t understand the world without telling a story.  There isn’t any center to the world but story” (156).

Responding to calls for tribally-centered critical approaches in American Indian Studies/Native Studies, this critical anthology focuses on Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe/Chippewa) Studies and the ways in which stories might serve as a center for the field. We invite engagement with and employment of the term “story” in its multifaceted meanings. Simply put, the essays in this book will explore and engage with the following questions:

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A Reception to Benefit the National Indian Child Welfare Association

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment
A Reception to Benefit the National Indian Child Welfare Association

You are cordially invited to attend a reception to benefit NICWA.
Come and learn more about NICWA’s efforts to improve the lives American Indian children and families, and how you can help.
Enjoy the company of party hosts, community guests, and NICWA staff for an evening of food, friends, and fun.
Date:
Friday, September 18th, 2009, 6pm – 9pm
Location:
Luella Collins Community Center
Address:
419 126th Avenue
Shelbyville, MI 49344

You can sign up here.